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If your child is bipolar,has mental issues or any other diagnosis?EDIT

When were they diagnose? did you notice something different on your child from day one? how are you handling their daily life?

Thank you moms who have answered and told me a bit about your life. I stand by my opinion you are all amazing cause kids in general are hard to deal with. You need the patience of a angel to deal with a kid with disabilities. And thats what you are to me angels.I know lots of you have used medication as last resort and your kids have gone through extensive treatments before getting a diagnosis. But its scary how much mental illness is around now a days. Ounce again moms thank you and God bless the great work you do.

My dd did not have psychological issues until her teens(exactly when mine first appeared as well) Having mental illness on both sides of the family does not help as it is very genetic. She was a normal child up until around age 13, with no anxiety or depression. She suffers from both now and it is very challenging to deal with.

My DS13 was diagnosed at age 6 with a "mood disorder". I noticed at the age of 3 but I thought maybe it was just "terrible threes" and he was my first child so I had nothing to compare the behavior to. He has been medicated ever since. There has also been maybe 3-4 times that I have pulled him off his medicine thinking there "really isn't an issue" and have learned each time that he NEEDS the medicine. He was off of it for a year one time and it was the worst year of our lives and one I would like to forget. There are conditions that are very real and a lot of parents (including me) don't want to admit something isn't "right" or perfect. All I know is that I have one of the most loving 13 year olds and I am so glad there is medicine to control his disorder.

Thank you.:) It really was a rough time and not only did if effect him, but the whole family. Thankfully, with early intervention (I am a huge advocate for that), he is doing well right now. I do worry about when he goes through puberty though, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

Quoting kaylasmom22:

Quoting zoo003:

My 10 year old ds is diagnosed with mood disorder (bipolar), autistic spectrum, and anxiety disorder. He is our 3rd child and we knew very early on that something was "different" with him. By the time he was 1, we had him in various therapies, seeing a psychiatrist and psychologist, in an early intervention program, in behavior modification therapies, etc. When he was little, he was very violent. He could not handle noise and stimulus that others could and acted out due to those. By the time he was 3, he was an ultra rapid cycler and would go from manic where he was having auditory/visual hallucinations to depressive where he was actively trying to kill himself. Many times he would go from telling us that the aliens in our house were telling him to kill us or begging us to not let the spiders that were all over the walls and ceiling to get get him to getting out of any car seat we put him in and trying to either attack me or try to open the car door and throw himself out in traffic (needless to say, we always kept all of the child locks on the car doors). By 5 years old, we were having to make the heart wrenching decision as to whether we should hospitalize him or not. However, through medication, countless therapies, much testing (ekg, mri, eeg, genetics, allergy, etc), different diets (didn't work though), a wonderful psychiatrist and psychologist, an amazing school system that worked with him (can't say enough for his teachers throughout the years-he is in 5th grade), us working with him, and a whole lot of work on his part, he is pretty much like any other child. Does he still have ups and downs? Yes, but we work through them. Does he have accommodations that allow him to be successful? Yes he does. However, overall, right now, we have more good days than bad days.:)

That's why I'm trying to get my niece help but no one listens to me. I don't have much experience with kids but I feel something is wrong with that child. But I don't know what to do to get her tested.

Quoting zoo003:

Thank you.:) It really was a rough time and not only did if effect him, but the whole family. Thankfully, with early intervention (I am a huge advocate for that), he is doing well right now. I do worry about when he goes through puberty though, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

Quoting kaylasmom22:

Quoting zoo003:

My 10 year old ds is diagnosed with mood disorder (bipolar), autistic spectrum, and anxiety disorder. He is our 3rd child and we knew very early on that something was "different" with him. By the time he was 1, we had him in various therapies, seeing a psychiatrist and psychologist, in an early intervention program, in behavior modification therapies, etc. When he was little, he was very violent. He could not handle noise and stimulus that others could and acted out due to those. By the time he was 3, he was an ultra rapid cycler and would go from manic where he was having auditory/visual hallucinations to depressive where he was actively trying to kill himself. Many times he would go from telling us that the aliens in our house were telling him to kill us or begging us to not let the spiders that were all over the walls and ceiling to get get him to getting out of any car seat we put him in and trying to either attack me or try to open the car door and throw himself out in traffic (needless to say, we always kept all of the child locks on the car doors). By 5 years old, we were having to make the heart wrenching decision as to whether we should hospitalize him or not. However, through medication, countless therapies, much testing (ekg, mri, eeg, genetics, allergy, etc), different diets (didn't work though), a wonderful psychiatrist and psychologist, an amazing school system that worked with him (can't say enough for his teachers throughout the years-he is in 5th grade), us working with him, and a whole lot of work on his part, he is pretty much like any other child. Does he still have ups and downs? Yes, but we work through them. Does he have accommodations that allow him to be successful? Yes he does. However, overall, right now, we have more good days than bad days.:)

Unfortunately, if parents don't see (or don't want to see) an issue, there isn't much you can do. However, if it is a professional that is not listening, then that professional can be replaced with one that will listen. I believe I read that her pediatrician wanted to wait until she was older to diagnose her (if I am wrong about this, sorry:)? First of all, a pediatrician is not usually the best person to diagnose mental illnesses. We have a wonderful pediatrician, but we go to a pediatric psychiatrist (she is wonderful-she is also the head of the pediatric psychiatric division) because a pediatrician just doesn't have the expertise in that area. I would highly recommend that a pediatric psychiatrist be contacted if possible and if nobody is listening then as a parent I would keep looking until someone did listen to my concerns. Early intervention is the one thing that I feel has helped my son the most. If we have waited, he would not be the happy child that he is today. I wish you and your niece luck. :)

Quoting kaylasmom22:

That's why I'm trying to get my niece help but no one listens to me. I don't have much experience with kids but I feel something is wrong with that child. But I don't know what to do to get her tested.

Quoting zoo003:

Thank you.:) It really was a rough time and not only did if effect him, but the whole family. Thankfully, with early intervention (I am a huge advocate for that), he is doing well right now. I do worry about when he goes through puberty though, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

Quoting kaylasmom22:

Quoting zoo003:

My 10 year old ds is diagnosed with mood disorder (bipolar), autistic spectrum, and anxiety disorder. He is our 3rd child and we knew very early on that something was "different" with him. By the time he was 1, we had him in various therapies, seeing a psychiatrist and psychologist, in an early intervention program, in behavior modification therapies, etc. When he was little, he was very violent. He could not handle noise and stimulus that others could and acted out due to those. By the time he was 3, he was an ultra rapid cycler and would go from manic where he was having auditory/visual hallucinations to depressive where he was actively trying to kill himself. Many times he would go from telling us that the aliens in our house were telling him to kill us or begging us to not let the spiders that were all over the walls and ceiling to get get him to getting out of any car seat we put him in and trying to either attack me or try to open the car door and throw himself out in traffic (needless to say, we always kept all of the child locks on the car doors). By 5 years old, we were having to make the heart wrenching decision as to whether we should hospitalize him or not. However, through medication, countless therapies, much testing (ekg, mri, eeg, genetics, allergy, etc), different diets (didn't work though), a wonderful psychiatrist and psychologist, an amazing school system that worked with him (can't say enough for his teachers throughout the years-he is in 5th grade), us working with him, and a whole lot of work on his part, he is pretty much like any other child. Does he still have ups and downs? Yes, but we work through them. Does he have accommodations that allow him to be successful? Yes he does. However, overall, right now, we have more good days than bad days.:)

Sorry to say but you won't find many compassionate people on this forum. Most people have no idea about mental illness or autism etc. They think you just go to a dr and make it go away. Right....I noticed my nephew had a problem when he was an infant, maybe 3 months old. He could not make eye contact. This was decades ago, long before Autism was a household word. I tried to tell my brother and SIL but they insisted he was ok. I knew better. Gut feeling. Today my nephew lives on his own but is disabled and on SSDI. It's not a great life, certainly not one his parents dreamed he would have. I don't know what to tell you but it's a daily struggle. You will feel frightened, sad and hopefull all in one day. It's a roller coaster and you can't get off of this ride. Try to get a good diagnosis and do not stop no matter what a single Dr tells you if you really think something is wrong. The growing brain of a child is very plastic and you can help the baby to have a more normal life.

Very nicely put my son has Autism not high functioning your statement made me cry which does not take much these days. You said what I fear he has SSI now but when he is an adult who will take the time to understand and love him and care for him help him help himself. I need to help him get a high functioning as I can now.

My boys are 4 and 5 years old, and thank jesus I do not notice any concerning signs. Their biofather has ODD and I have Bipolar II, Depression, Anxiety, and ADD.

I was diagnosed with ADD, mood disorder NOS and depression when I was 11. I got irritated easily and would flip out over little things. When I was a young child one of the things I would do which shouldve concerned my parents sooner was while coloring.. if I colored outside the lines I would flip out, break all my crayons- leave the room crying and come back and blame someone else for breaking my crayons and flip out again. Yeah.. :\

As I got to my late teens/early 20s I started having more problems with my mood disorder. It wasnt until one night I flipped out, left my house, took my whole bottle of klonopins, screamed nasty things to my BFFs friend and neighbor, and threatened to kill myself- when I finally had enough and put myself in a psychiatric hospital in order to get the help I needed. I was diagnosed with Bipolar II and Agoraphobia at that point.

That was almost two years ago, I am 24 years old now. I tried all the different types of medication for BPII besides Lithium before giving up on medications all together. I currently take B12 for energy and to help with stress. A little natural tobacco helps me sleep at night too ;)

My oldest daughter who is now 15 was diognosed in kindergarten with adhd. 4th grade cognative disablity. I knew something was not on path since she was a baby. I noticed that when she was little she wouldn't let her feet touch grass. She would cry and scream! She is still like that to this day. She also has an adjustment disorder. I have to keep her routine very predictable and any change doesn't sit well with her. Her father and I aren't together and haven't since she was little, he doesn't know how to parent her.

My son is almost 13 and has been diognosed with depression and anxiety. We have had a rollercoster journey with him. We didnt see anything before the age of 5 ( when he started school). I really miss my son's smile. It breaks my heart to see him struggling alot of days. We just started new medicine so hopefully that will help!!!

My other son is 6 and has sensory processing disorder and speech delay. He had a tramatic birth and this was the outcome. I always remind myself that it could have been so much worse so we count our blessings everyday!!! He isn't on meds, we caught the signs of trouble from day one and have been on every hurdle since! He is now in kindergarten and thriving! No cognative challenges, sensory is being handled with amazing tools, and speech is almost cleared up!

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